Doctors regularly dole out powerful antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs to vulnerable people who should not be taking them, health bosses admitted last night.
Every day in England 35,000 people with learning disabilities are prescribed the pills without any justification, according to a report into the problem.
In a letter to doctors and patients, senior NHS England officials admitted that drugs were being used as a ‘chemical restraint’ to control behaviour, in place of more appropriate treatments.
Their admission will fuel growing concerns that the nation has become ‘over- medicalised’ and that thousands of patients are suffering harmful side effects as a result.
The national audit of treatment of people with learning disabilities was ordered following the scandal of the Winterbourne View care home near Bristol, where patients were forcibly sedated and restrained.
Six care workers were jailed and five others given suspended sentences after the scandal was exposed in 2011.
Health charities last night reacted with fury to the revelations. Full story...
Related posts:
Every day in England 35,000 people with learning disabilities are prescribed the pills without any justification, according to a report into the problem.
In a letter to doctors and patients, senior NHS England officials admitted that drugs were being used as a ‘chemical restraint’ to control behaviour, in place of more appropriate treatments.
Their admission will fuel growing concerns that the nation has become ‘over- medicalised’ and that thousands of patients are suffering harmful side effects as a result.
The national audit of treatment of people with learning disabilities was ordered following the scandal of the Winterbourne View care home near Bristol, where patients were forcibly sedated and restrained.
Six care workers were jailed and five others given suspended sentences after the scandal was exposed in 2011.
Health charities last night reacted with fury to the revelations. Full story...
Related posts:
No comments:
Post a Comment